As a child, I was always taught that the three-strike rule in baseball also applies to getting in trouble. In fact, the idea of getting in trouble three times at the same school or with the same team normally leads to a parting of the parties. In the case of the Jacksonville Jaguars and wide receiver Justin Blackmon, whether this third strike leads to a parting of ways is still in the air.
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BY THE NUMBERS
2.37 - What is Iwakuma-san's career ERA, as a starter (132 IP)
3.37 - What is Justin Verlander's career ERA, as a starter (lots of IP)
AN INTEGER - What is the difference between the two ERA's, currently
VERLANDER and schlub for IWAKUMA, SEAGER, and SWEETENER - dream rotisserie trade, and easy to execute
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Q. Did Maurer change his pitch selection?
A. He did, yes, and he changed it radically. This change was absolutely the key to his success.
In his last start, he was KO'ed by the Houston Astros in the first inning. There might have been a certain amount of luck involved, but make no mistake: he got KO'ed, and it took smelling salts to peel him off the canvas.
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I woke up in a SoDo doorway
The policeman knew my name
He said, "You can win one at home tonight
If you can go up and Walk today"
I staggered up to see what Yu got
The breeze blew back my hair
I remembered throwing punches around
And takin' AJ's dare
Said who are Yuuuu
Who who
Who who?
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Q. What happened out there, from a technical standpoint?
A. There's an axiom in baseball. You read the hitter, and you pitch him accordingly:
The Astros, as a lineup, were passive. They had fanned 9,000 times in an ugly first week, including a near-perfecto by Yu Darvish. After 20% swings and misses (!) they were dialed back, just trying to put the ball in play.
Maurer could have made hay with his 94-95 MPH fastball. Instead, he lobbed offspeed in there, and the Astros lined their little 150-foot pepper shots around the park.
I'm not making excuses. You want to know what actually happened, right?
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Q. Prove it. We're hardly in any mood to take your word here.
A. Yep, Dr. D is going to need to provide data-rich environments for a while. :-) That's okay; when you go in like an unknown, having to prove yourself, it keeps you sharp. Heh!
Here, let's examine the base hits in the first inning, case-by-case. The first batter, Altuve. Maurer pounds him with two fastballs, 94 MPH, and quickly goes up 0-2. Then what happens?
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In terms of bases gained and bases lost, the M's deserve to be 3-and-3. They've faced two contenders, on the road. Back away from the ledge, kiddies. The first six games have gone very well for a young team in search of an identity.
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Bill James once said, "baseball is about the strike zone." The Mariners' batting average isn't yet best in the league, but if this keeps up, it soon will be ....
Has it seemed to you like the M's are seeing the ball well? F/X backs up our suspicions.
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=== Bazooka Joe ===
Where were you?, during Blake Griffin's double airball from the foul line. Whoops! First one slipped, man. Watch me, now, I got the laces here. I'm gonna MAKE this one. ... WHOOPS!
Saunders needs plus-plus command of his fastball; in this game he didn't even have mediocre command of his fastball. He'd fall behind 2-0, and he'd bear down to try to hit his spot, and then the ball would sail two feet wide and two feet high.
Since the fatball was useless, it underlined the fact that his curve is a minus pitch and his change is a minus pitch.
If he can pitch worse than that if any major league pitcher over the age of 25 can pitch worse than that, I don't want to know about it.
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After the game, Sgt. Wedge praised Saunders to the skies. You really saw the bulldog out there tonight, dudes. Seriously, that's what he was talking. And so it becomes clear how Saunders got here.
That's okay. We don't begrudge Sgt. Wedge his homies. But Dr. D is already counting the days.
Don't get me wrong. Saunders isn't going to average 1.0 BB per IP very often. But we'll still be counting the days. The #4-5 SP situation is .... well, how long is Erasmo out again?
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Here is our Flowers for Algernon post on Saunders, right before we signed him. EXEC SUM: he's not the prettiest pitcher to watch, but does have a lifetime ERA+ of 103.
As you know, he's a slight variation on Jason Vargas -- hyperlow BB rate, so when his K's bip up over 5.6 he can be a TOR for short stretches. Saunders isn't quite as good as Vargas, but on the other hand he was on a hot roll to close 2012. Figure a 10% chance a 5% chance that he's leaped a plateau, as Jamie Moyer did at about Saunders' age.
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Saunders hides the ball well, short-arming it like George Sherrill. Against LHB's he throws only FB's and CB's in a 70-30 mix, no changeups whatsoever.
Lefties were genuinely helpless against Saunders last year, batting a feeble .199/.222/.229. That's a pitcher's line.
Of Oakland's five good hitters (check me on that), four of them are lefty -- Seth Smith, Josh Reddick, John Jaso and Brandon Moss. In theory, this sets Saunders up to pitch around Yoenis Cespedes. If Saunders gives Cespedes anything good to hit, it will be a strategic error of the first magnitude.
With basketball coming to playoff season and baseball beginning its start to the regular season, football was feeling a little left out of the limelight. With that being said, two teams decided to make some off season noise. Both those teams are located in Northern California.
It is no lie that the amount of money paid to professional athletes is absolutely ridiculous. We are at a time where we actually cheer for athletes when they decided to take a pay cut of a few million to help out their team, while they are still being paid at least another few million. While many of us are barely making ends meet, these jokers are being paid top-dollar to play games…but we all still watch it.
